Dennis Bixby pitches citywide cleanup day to Tonganoxie City Council.

Dennis Bixby wants Tonganoxie to look its best for the Leavenworth County Fair.

Returning with an idea he first raised to them two weeks earlier, Bixby sought Monday the Tonganoxie City Council members’ support for a citywide cleanup day.

He would have liked to have had the cleanup before Tonganoxie Days but thought planning would be too squeezed by time, Bixby said. His goal now was to schedule the cleanup for a Saturday in July with a rain date before the fair, Aug. 10-14 at the Leavenworth County Fairgrounds in Tonganoxie .

His plans, which he admitted weren’t flushed out, were to encourage all residents to clean up their properties and to recruit civic groups to pick up around parks and other commons areas, Bixby said. The civic groups would also help to tidy up the properties of senior citizens, he said.

Rewards would be given to civic groups picking up the most trash, Bixby said. He sought and received the council’s awarding a pool party to the top team, subject to the pool’s availability.

Kevin Weldon of Honey Creek Disposal has agreed to make two Dumpsters available for about 12 hours the day of the cleanup, Bixby said. In reply to council members’ concerns, he said he would monitor them to ensure there was no unlawful dumping.

He scaled back the effort from what he first envisioned when he learned the cost to the city to dispose of things such as used appliances and furniture would be as much as $14,000. But he said he hadn’t completely given up on that bigger goal.

“My goal with this is it’s such a success that you guys see the results and next year say ‘maybe that’s worth $14,000,’” Bixby said.